How do you measure a podcast? Spotify is counting the plays.

That’s the name of the audiovisual platform’s newest metric, which will apply to its library of long-form shows. By introducing a new standard measurement for podcasts, Spotify is looking to enrich its creator community and its ad partners while solidifying its position at the forefront of a booming industry.

For creators, the new metric offers “a deeper understanding of how content resonates with audiences.”

That’s how Spotify described the impact of plays in a post published on the For the Record blog. The metric only counts impressions that occurred when a user “actively listened to or watched any episode” of a podcast.

On the surface, that may seem to be a cosmetic change, but Spotify argued that plays will allow creators to draw clear conclusions about the uploads that perform the best. Play counts will be...